Marrying a Citizen of Poland? How to Get a Green Card for Your New Spouse

Procedural planning if your fiance or spouse is from Poland.

If you are marrying someone from Poland, and plan to sponsor
your new husband or wife for a U.S. green card (lawful permanent residence),
here is some important legal and practical information.

(Warning: This article provides a general overview of how
the process works for most couples. Your situation may present complications or
qualify for exceptions to the rules stated here; see an experienced immigration
attorney for a full evaluation.)

Immigration Eligibility Based on Engagement or Marriage

First, some background on U.S. immigration law. Marriage to
a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident provides foreign-born persons a
direct path to U.S. immigration. Contrary to popular rumor, however, your
foreign fiancé or spouse will not immediately or automatically receive a green
card or U.S. citizenship.

If you are a U.S. citizen, your new spouse becomes your
"immediate relative" and may receive a green card as soon as the two
of you make it through the application process. This can take several months.

If you are not yet married and your fiancé is still in Poland,
you can, if you are a U.S. citizen, petition for him or her to enter the U.S.
as a fiancé in order to get married in the U.S. -- and then your new spouse can
apply for a U.S. green card (lawful permanent residence). You can also
choose to get married first in Poland or another country, and then apply for an
immigrant visa with which your new spouse can enter the U.S.--at which time he
or she becomes a permanent resident.

If you are a U.S. lawful permanent resident (not a citizen),
your new spouse becomes a "preference relative," in category 2A, and can
apply for a green card (and enter the U.S.) only after a visa number has become
available. Annual limits on the number of visas given out in category 2A can create
years-long waits. The waiting time changes
periodically, which makes it difficult to predict just how long you will need
to wait for your spouse to immigrate. The application process itself typically adds more months to
the process.

Permanent residents cannot petition for foreign-born fiancés to
come to the United States.

Overview of Obtaining a Green Card Based on Marriage

The application process for a green card based on marriage
involves multiple steps, such as submitting forms and documents and attending
an interview with U.S. immigration authorities. The underlying purpose is to
prove:

the status of the U.S. petitioner (as a citizen
or permanent resident)

that a valid marriage has taken place (or will,
in the case of a fiancé visa)

that the marriage is bona fide (not just a sham
or fake to get a green card), and

Procedurally, you may have more than one option as to where
and how you apply for the immigrant visa or green card, as described below.

Procedures When Applying for a K-1 Fiancé Visa

If you and your intended spouse (who lives outside the U.S.) have
not yet married -- or have held an informal ceremony that does not count as an
official marriage in the location where it was held--you can apply for a
temporary (90-day) visa with which the foreign-born fiancé can enter the U.S. in
order to hold the wedding.

The U.S. citizen must start this process. To do so, you
would file a visa petition on Form I-129F with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS). After USCIS approves the I-129F, it will transfer the case to
the National Visa Center in New Hampshire, which
eventually will send the case to the U.S. consulate in Warsaw, Poland. Your fiancé will apply for a K-1 visa
through the consulate. This involves submitting forms and documents and
attending a visa interview with a consular official. You, the U.S. petitioner,
are allowed to attend this interview, though it is not required.

After your marriage in the U.S., your new spouse applies to USCIS for a green card, through a process called adjustment of status. The
two of you will attend a green card interview at a local USCIS office.

Procedures for Your Spouse to Come From Poland on an Immigrant Visa

If you and your husband or wife have already married, and
your spouse is currently in Poland, you would start the green-card application
process by filing Form I-130 with USCIS. After USCIS approves the I-130, spouses
of U.S. citizens can move forward with visa processing. Spouses of U.S.
permanent residents, however, will hit a delay; they will need to wait (on
average up to two years, as of 2016) for a visa to become available in their category (2A).

After paying various fees and submitting
documents to the National Visa Center in New Hampshire, your spouse will next go through consular processing for an
immigrant visa. This means your spouse submits additional paperwork to, and attends an
interview at, a U.S. consulate in Warsaw, Poland. (As the U.S. petitioner, you may
attend, but are not required to.)

Upon approval for the visa, your spouse can enter the U.S.
on an immigrant visa, at which time he or she becomes a lawful permanent
resident.

At Which U.S. Consulate in Poland the Interview Will Be Held

The U.S. currently has two embassies in Poland, located in
Krakow and Warsaw. However, only the embassy in Warsaw handles immigrant visa applications.

You will be given instructions when your case is transferred
to the embassy in Warsaw, and can also check the embassy’s website for information.

If your spouse happens to be living in another country than Poland,
the consulate there would likely be the one to handle the case.

Procedures If Your Spouse Is Already in the U.S.

If your spouse initially came to the U.S. on a nonimmigrant
(such as on a fiancé or student visa or as a tourist), and either you are a
U.S. citizen or your spouse is still in valid status, he or she can apply to
adjust status in the United States. The main form for this is an I-485. The two
of you will attend an interview at one of USCIS’s field offices.

If, however, your spouse entered the U.S. without inspection
or by using a fake visa, or you are a permanent resident rather than a citizen,
your situation is more complicated than this article can address. You may have
difficulty obtaining a green card for your spouse, though it is not impossible.
See an immigration attorney for details or if you have any questions about
whether you qualify to adjust status.

Entering Into a Legally Valid Marriage

No matter where you marry, you will need to obtain a
certificate that convinces the U.S. immigration authorities that it was legally
recognized in the state or country where it took place. Below are some tips on
doing that.

Obtaining Documentation of a Valid Marriage in Poland

If you have married, or plan to get married in your fiancé
or spouse’s home country, you will first need to look into Poland’s requirements
for legal marriage.

According to information provided by the U.S. consulate, getting
married in Poland can be procedurally complicated. At least four weeks before
your wedding date, you will have to register at a place called the marriage
office. But you will need to put in some advance work before going to register,
because one of the documents you will be asked to provide is evidence that you
are legally free to marry – and no such document is directly available from any
official U.S. source. The U.S. consulate in Poland can, however, issue you a
letter (in both English and Polish) explaining that fact. Such a letter will
help you petition for a release from the requirement of presenting a certification
of ability to marry, which you will need to do at the Regional Court in the
area where your Polish fiancé(e) lives. Also be sure to take along any documents
proving the termination of past marriages, such as U.S. death and divorce
decrees. The court will demand a certified copy of the divorce decree along
with the court statement that this is the final decision.

Scheduling your date before the Regional Court can take
several weeks. The decision will be made on that date and become final after
three weeks. (And then you’ve got to register, and wait another four weeks to
marry.)

After the marriage ceremony, you will need to obtain a
certificate of that marriage for purposes of U.S. immigration. The U.S.
government keeps track of what documents are considered legally valid from each
country, Poland included, and will reject your marriage certificate if it
doesn't come from the proper source. Check the State Department’s
"Country Reciprocity Schedule" to get further details on what
documents from Poland it considers valid. (Enter "Poland," then scroll down the page to the sections on “Documents.”)

Obtaining Documentation of a Valid Marriage in the United States

If you will hold your wedding in the U.S., you need to follow
the laws of the state where you marry. For a summary, see Marriage Laws in
Your State. You will need to obtain a marriage certificate from a local government office.
A church certificate, for example, is not enough.